In a move that could make a lot Indian indigenous manufacturers happy, the Indian government is considering stingent guidelines to check import of cheap Chinese goods. The Indian market is flooded with ceap Chinese electronics goods, be it LED bulbs, decorative bulbs, mobile devices, and many more. The Centre is considering putting in place technical quality standards for key sectors which would be mandatory for both locally produced items and imports.
The Ministry of Commerce is in consulation with more than 10 Ministries and Departments, which includes Department of Electronics and Information Technology. One of the Commerece Minstry offcial recently told Hindu Business Line that “unless we have established mandatory norms for such products in India, there is no way we can stop such imports.”
India’s trade deficit with China widened to $52.65 billion in 2015-16, with China exporting goods worth $61.7 billion and importing Indian products worth just $9.05 billion.
India is mostly conserned about the inferior imports that is happening in the country as it is not only resulting in unfair competition but the market is also getting flooded by unwanted products.
In India only around 150 products have mandatory technical standards, whereas in other developed nations most of the products that gets imported have to fall under technical guidelines. We hope that the government doesn’t delay this procedure any further.
By Atanu Kumar Das
